"YHWH, I Change Not"

Scripture

Malachi 3:1–6 KJV 1900

1 Behold, I will send my messenger, and he shall prepare the way before me: And the Lord, whom ye seek, shall suddenly come to his temple, Even the messenger of the covenant, whom ye delight in: Behold, he shall come, saith the Lord of hosts. 2 But who may abide the day of his coming? And who shall stand when he appeareth? For he is like a refiner’s fire, and like fullers’ soap: 3 And he shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver: And he shall purify the sons of Levi, and purge them as gold and silver, That they may offer unto the Lord an offering in righteousness. 4 Then shall the offering of Judah and Jerusalem be pleasant unto the Lord, As in the days of old, and as in former years. 5 And I will come near to you to judgment; And I will be a swift witness Against the sorcerers, and against the adulterers, and against false swearers, And against those that oppress the hireling in his wages, The widow, and the fatherless, And that turn aside the stranger from his right, and fear not me, Saith the Lord of hosts. 6 For I am the Lord, I change not; Therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed.

Intro

One thing I’ve noticed over the past year or so, and I don’t want to belabor this point, is that I’m getting older. Things are breaking down. Even when I don’t do anything, they break down. There’s more aches and pains than there used to be. I’m not complaining, I’m just noticing.

So . . . what’s the point of talking about my past and present? I’ve changed! Physically, emotionally, mentally and spiritually!

We’ve all changed.

Change is a constant. Life is not what it used to be. Sometimes we’d like to go back to the calmer days of the 70's. Life seemed to be more settled, less stressful and less change-filled.

In the midst of all this change, we have one constant, and that is the fact that God does not change! In the midst of our crazy changing world - - - God doesn’t change. And that’s a great attribute of God’s. I can’t imagine if God were constantly changing and evolving. What kind of God would that be? I wouldn’t want that.

Numbers 23:19 KJV 1900

19 God is not a man, that he should lie; Neither the son of man, that he should repent: Hath he said, and shall he not do it? Or hath he spoken, and shall he not make it good?

Psalm 90:2 KJV 1900

2 Before the mountains were brought forth, Or ever thou hadst formed the earth and the world, Even from everlasting to everlasting, thou art God.

James 1:17 KJV 1900

17 Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.

Psalm 102:25 KJV 1900

25 Of old hast thou laid the foundation of the earth: And the heavens are the work of thy hands.

Psalm 18:1–2 KJV 1900

1 I will love thee, O Lord, my strength. 2 The Lord is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer; My God, my strength, in whom I will trust; My buckler, and the horn of my salvation, and my high tower.

Isaiah 14:24 KJV 1900

24 The Lord of hosts hath sworn, saying, Surely as I have thought, so shall it come to pass; And as I have purposed, so shall it stand:

Sermon Points

God isn’t fickle and wishy-washy in His feelings. God doesn’t have His good days and bad days. There aren’t days where God looks at us and says, “Man, I love that dude. Then the next day, God says, I can’t stand him.” That doesn’t happen with God. He loves you, period. There’s never a moment when He doesn’t love and adore you. He may not like what you do, but that doesn’t stop Him from loving you.

Imagine what would happen if God was still evolving and changing? What if God’s personality and characteristics were changing? How could we come to God and have any expectation that God would be consistent? I couldn’t trust Him. How would we have faith in a God we couldn’t count on?

That’s why the writer of Hebrews could tell us this important truth about God —

Hebrews 13:8 (KJV 1900)

8 Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever.

God’s personality is the same today as it was during the time of Abraham, as well as Moses and David and Ruth and Esther and Peter, Paul and Mary. Even though people come and go and let us down, God remains the same. He’s the same today that He was then, which means that He is absolutely reliable and completely consistent with His personality.

This should give us a great deal of comfort and confidence in God. Because He doesn’t change, we can rely on the unchanging truth of the Bible. When God says something is sin, it’s sin. What God says it’s good, it’s good.

When astronaut Alan Shepherd was getting ready to go into space for the first time, a reporter asked, “What are you depending on in this flight?” His answer is great --- “I’m depending upon the fact that God’s laws will not change.” God’s laws don’t change because God’s Word does not change.

Think of it this way - - -

Because God is omnipresent, He is here.

Because God is omniscient, He knows.

Because God is omnipotent, He can help.

Because God is love, He gives grace and mercy.

And because He is immutable, none of that will ever change!

Closings

That’s how I want to end this morning. Know and trust that God has promised you He won’t fail you, nor forsake you, but He loves you and has called you. He won’t give up on you! When you need Him, He’s there. He already knows your situation. So, call on Him and know, He hasn’t changed His mind about you! You’re His kid, holy and dearly loved, loved even before Jesus created this world!